Biofilms in shower hoses – choice of pipe material influences bacterial growth and communities

Proctor, Caitlin R.; Gächter, Marja; Kötzsch, Stefan; Rölli, Franziska; Sigrist, Romina; Walser, Jean‐Claude; Hammes, Frederik

doi:10.1039/c6ew00016a

Cited by 60 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…In premise plumbing, biofilm samples are often collected from faucets, shower heads, drains, hoses and water filters (Charron et al, 2015; Falkinham, 2010; Liu et al, 2012; Proctor et al, 2016; Thomas et al, 2014; Wang et al, 2012). Anti-splash or spray nozzles are recommended to be removed from faucets and shower heads and disassembled prior to biofilm sampling in order to access the inner area and obtain representative biofilm (U.K.…”

Section: Sampling Premise Plumbing and Sample Handlingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methodological approaches for monitoring opportunistic pathogens in premise plumbing: A review

et al. 2017

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Opportunistic pathogens inhabiting premise (i.e., building) plumbing (OPPPs, e.g., L. pneumophila, M. avium complex, P. aeruginosa, Acanthamoeba, and N. fowleri) are a significant and growing source of disease. Because OPPPs establish and grow as part of the native drinking water microbiota, they do not correspond to fecal indicators, presenting a significant challenge to common and effective monitoring strategies. Further, different OPPPs present distinct requirements for sampling, preservation, and analysis, creating a significant impediment to their parallel detection. The aim of this critical review is to synthesize the state of the science of monitoring OPPPs and to identify a path forward for their simultaneous detection and quantification in a manner commensurate with the need for reliable data to inform risk assessment and mitigation. Water and biofilm sampling procedures, as well as factors influencing sample representativeness and detection sensitivity, are critically evaluated with respect to the five representative bacterial and amoebal OPPPs noted above. Available culturing and molecular approaches are discussed in terms of their advantages, limitations, and applicability. Knowledge gaps and research needs are identified.

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Section: Sampling Premise Plumbing and Sample Handlingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methodological approaches for monitoring opportunistic pathogens in premise plumbing: A review

et al. 2017

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“…Mechanical treatment: We found that four cycles of highenergy sonication in a TWEEN-PP solution are the most effective treatment for optimal cell counts among all the treatments tested. Sonication is a mechanical treatment often proposed for the removal of biofilm from a plastic material (Proctor et al, 2016), sand and GAC particles (Li et al, 2010;Magic-Knezev and van der Kooij, 2004), and marine sediments (Danovaro et al, 2001). Low energy sonication has been shown to be less effective than high energy sonication in detaching biofilm from GAC and sand particles, a finding that has been confirmed by our results (Magic-Knezev and van der Kooij, 2004).…”

Section: Optimisation Of Pre-treatments For Biofilm Detachmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flow-cytometric quantification of microbial cells on sand from water biofilters

et al. 2018

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a b s t r a c tRapid quantification of absolute microbial cell abundances is important for a comprehensive interpretation of microbiome surveys and crucial to support theoretical modelling and the design of engineered systems. In this paper, we propose a protocol specifically optimised for the quantification of microbial abundances in water biofilters using flow cytometry (FCM). We optimised cell detachment from sand biofilter particles for FCM quantification through the evaluation of five chemical dispersants (NaCl, Triton-X100, CaCl 2 , sodium pyrophosphate (PP), Tween 80 combined with PP), different mechanical pretreatments (low and high energy sonication and shaking) and two fixation methods (glutaraldehyde and ethanol). The developed protocol was cross-compared using other established and commonly employed methods for biomass quantification in water filter samples (adenosine triphosphate (ATP) quantification, real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) and volatile solids (VS)). The highest microbial count was obtained by detaching the biofilm from biofilter grains and dispersing clusters into singles cells using Tween 80 and sodium pyrophosphate combined with four steps of high energy sonication (27W, for 80 s each step); glutaraldehyde was shown to be the best fixative solution. The developed protocol was reliable and highly reproducible and produced results that are comparable to data from alternative quantification methods. Indeed, high correlations were found with trends obtained through ATP and qPCR (r ¼ 0.98 and r ¼ 0.91) measurements. The VS content was confirmed as an inaccurate method to express biomass in sand samples since it correlated poorly with all the other three methods (r ¼ 0.005 with FCM, 0.002 with ATP and 0.177 with qPCR). FCM and ATP showed the strongest agreement between absolute counts with a slope of the correlation equal to 0.7, while qPCR seemed to overestimate cell counts by a factor of ten. The rapidity and reproducibility of the method developed make its application ideal for routine quantification of microbial cell abundances on sand from water biofilters and thus useful in revealing the ecological patterns and quantifying the metabolic kinetics involved in such systems.

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“…It is clear that building plumbing systems are per se complex environments, with multiple confounding factors (e.g., temperature, hydraulics, nutrients) affecting bacterial colonization, growth, and microbiome composition. Previous studies suggested that the choice of plumbing material plays a critical role, particularly when the material supplies nutrients for growth 15,24,42 . For example, Rogers and colleagues 43 studied biofilm development on different materials with different extents of growth supporting properties (and their ability to resist invading Legionella ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Considering one of the above in more detail, studies in our research group that were addressing biofilm formation on flexible polymeric materials revealed (1) high bacterial numbers (i.e., growth) and (2) a considerable loss in species diversity (i.e., selection) 12,14 . Also, Proctor and colleagues 15 observed the development of dissimilar biofilm community compositions when exposing the same drinking water community to different polymeric hose materials. Thereupon, they reasoned for considerable impact of migrating organic carbon on both growth and selection.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a probiotic approach for building plumbing – nutrient-based selection during initial biofilm formation on flexible polymeric materials

Neu

Laura

Hammes

2020

Preprint

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26Upon entering building plumbing systems, drinking water bacteria experience 27 considerable changes in environmental conditions. For example, some flexible 28 polymeric materials leach organic carbon, which increases bacterial growth and 29 reduces diversity. Here we show that the carbon supply by a flexible polymeric material 30 drives nutrient-based selection within establishing biofilm communities. We found that 31 migrating carbon from EPDM coupons resulted in considerable growth for different 32 drinking water communities (0.2 -3.3 x 10 8 cells/cm 2 ). All established biofilm 33 communities showed low diversity (29 -50 taxa/biofilm), with communities dominated 34 by even viewer taxa (e.g., 5 taxa accounting for 94 ± 5 % relative abundance, n = 15). 35Interestingly, biofilm communities shared some taxa (e.g., Methylobacterium spp.) and 36 families (e.g., Comamonadaceae), despite the difference in starting communities. 37Moreover, selected biofilm communities performed better than their original 38 communities regarding maximum attachment (91 ± 5 vs. 69 ± 23 %, n = 15) and 39 attachment rate (5.0 ± 1.7 x 10 4 vs. 2.4 ± 1.2 x 10 4 cells/cm 2 /h, n = 15) when exposed 40 to new EPDM coupons. Our results demonstrate nutrient-based selection during initial 41 biofilm formation on a flexible polymeric material and a resulting benefit to selected 42 communities. We anticipate our findings to help connecting observational 43 microbiological findings with their underlying ecological principles. Regarding initial 44 biofilm formation, attachment dynamics, growth, and selection thereof are important 45 for the management of microbial communities. In fact, managing initial colonization by 46 supplying specific carbon and/or introducing consciously chosen/designed 47 communities potentially paves the way for a probiotic approach for building plumbing 48 materials. 49 50

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Biofilms in shower hoses – choice of pipe material influences bacterial growth and communities

Abstract: Flexible polymeric pipe materials are commonly used as shower hoses or connections to faucets in the last meters of building plumbing, but these tend to leach high concentrations of carbon that encourage bacterial growth.

Cited by 60 publications

References 53 publications

Methodological approaches for monitoring opportunistic pathogens in premise plumbing: A review

Methodological approaches for monitoring opportunistic pathogens in premise plumbing: A review

Flow-cytometric quantification of microbial cells on sand from water biofilters

Towards a probiotic approach for building plumbing – nutrient-based selection during initial biofilm formation on flexible polymeric materials

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